AI Coding tool profile
Paperclip
An open-source app for managing AI agents at work: self-hosted, MIT-licensed, with agent team management, embedded or Postgres storage, and no vendor account required.
Independent research from official sources · Sources · How we review
- Best for
- Teams that want a self-hosted control plane for their AI agents without sending agent activity to a third-party SaaS.
- Starting point
- Free and open source (MIT), self-hosted, no Paperclip account required; run it with the embedded database...
- Free plan
- Yes — Free and open source (MIT), self-hosted - no Paperclip account required and no agents installed automatically.
- Key limitation
- Self-hosted: you run the app and its database yourself.
Choose it if
Strongest for
Built for
Avoid it if
- Agent management tooling — it does not provide the agents or their model quota.
- Actively developed project; features and stability can change quickly.
- Independent open-source project; not an official product of any listed provider.
Free-plan suitability
Free and open source (MIT), self-hosted - no Paperclip account required and no agents installed automatically; the cloud-hosted version is waitlist-based with no published pricing.
Pricing
Free and open source (MIT), self-hosted, no Paperclip account required; run it with the embedded database or your own Postgres. A hosted version is in waitlist (paperclip.ing, 2026-10-06) with no published price yet.
Verify the current plan, credits, output limits, and commercial terms before purchasing.
Run it 24/7 on your own server
Paperclip runs on your own machine, so it stops answering when your laptop sleeps. A small Linux VPS with Docker keeps it online for scripts, agents and teammates, with a fixed monthly cost instead of per-token markup.
- Start with the smallest plan that runs Docker; upgrade only if you add users or local models.
- Keep the gateway bound to localhost or behind a firewall, and store provider keys as environment variables.
- Monthly billing lets you test before committing to a long term.
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What Paperclip does
- Open-source (MIT) project with 97.6k GitHub stars and dated releases (v2026.1001.0 on 2026-10-02)
- Open-source (MIT) self-hosted app to manage AI agents for work; one-command setup (npx paperclipai onboard) with embedded Postgres or your own database
- Agentic Task Manager: tasks with owners and review gates, proactive agent coworkers, auditable routines, and verification from diffs, screenshots, and tests
- Mixed human + agent org chart with roles, permissions, delegation, governance controls, and secrets scoped to the exact agent that needs them
- Agent Employee Training: Skill Studio for org-wide skills, evals and saved test runs, active learning loops, and performance reviews for agents
- Bring-your-own-agent runtime across providers (Claude, Codex, Hermes, etc.) with sandboxed execution, integrations and MCP servers, SSO/GRC/RBAC, and cost controls
- Budgets & costs tracking with per-task receipts; one deployment can run dozens of companies with complete data isolation; heartbeats keep agent work moving
Is it legit?
Who is behind Paperclip, where it is based, and what is publicly known about its funding. Company details change — verify on the official site before committing.
- Company
- Paperclip (open source)
Evaluation guide
Step-by-step evaluation guides for Paperclip — workflow fit, pricing, rights, and a same-input test before paying.
Compare Paperclip with alternatives
Side-by-side pages that weigh Paperclip against overlapping tools on the same five fields.
Official sources
These links are retained beside the catalog record so changing details can be rechecked.